Global Advanced Metals to Mine Tantalum at Greenbushes

February 05, 2018 07:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time

WALTHAM, Mass. & PERTH, Australia--(EON: Enhanced Online News)--Global Advanced Metals (GAM), the world’s leading integrated and
conflict-free provider of tantalum products, announces that it has
commenced the process to start direct tantalum mining operations at its
Greenbushes Mine assets in Western Australia, commencing within the next
12 months.

“A large part of our focus in the development of the Greenbushes
tantalum mine plan is ensuring employee and environmental safety while
maximising tantalum production and the royalty revenue and jobs it will
create for Western Australia.”

GAM has prepared and submitted to Talison Lithium a formal Mine
Development Plan outlining how mining tantalum at Greenbushes can
commence in the next 12 months.

Greenbushes is located in the south west region of Western Australia and
for decades was a significant source of the world’s tantalum supply. GAM
plans to redevelop its Greenbushes assets, combining the planned
tantalum mining operations with further processing of tantalum derived
as a by-product of lithium mining in Western Australia, into the world’s
largest single source of tantalum to supply its substantial downstream
manufacturing facilities in the USA and Japan.

“Greenbushes is central to our Australian tantalum development strategy
as we restore Western Australia’s position as a major supply hub in the
global tantalum market,” said GAM CEO Andrew O’Donovan. “As an
integrated processor and supplier of tantalum products to the
electronics, aerospace, medical and other industries, a long term and
reliable primary source of tantalum supply is key to providing stability
assurance to our direct customers and further downstream end users.”

Mr O’Donovan said GAM was acutely aware of the need to carefully manage
concurrent lithium and tantalum operations in the same mining area.

“The separation of exploration rights for different minerals has become
commonplace in Western Australia to facilitate mining development and we
expect concurrent mining of separate interests at Greenbushes to become
a showpiece of how this co-mining can be managed,” he said.

“A large part of our focus in the development of the Greenbushes
tantalum mine plan is ensuring employee and environmental safety while
maximising tantalum production and the royalty revenue and jobs it will
create for Western Australia.”

Greenbushes is located in the South West region of Western Australia and
is a well-known major lithium and tantalum production site. Talison
Lithium currently undertakes mining operations for its own lithium and
GAM’s tantalum.

Talison Lithium is owned 51% by Chinese company Tianqi Lithium
Industries, Inc. (SZSE:002466) with the remaining 49% held by US-based
Albemarle Corporation (NYSE:ALB). Talison Lithium holds only the lithium
rights at Greenbushes, with all other mineral rights reserved to GAM
under an agreement between the two companies. The same agreement sets
out circumstances under which Talison Lithium may no longer be the sole
operator at the mine. The principal mineral present at Greenbushes
besides lithium is tantalum.

About Global Advanced Metals (GAM)

A leading conflict-free tantalum producer, GAM has exclusive rights to
the world’s largest industrial resources of tantalum ore located in
Western Australia.

GAM produces conflict-free tantalum powders and metallurgical products
at its downstream processing plants in Pennsylvania, USA and Aizu, Japan
for a range of critical applications in industries including
electronics, aerospace, automotive, medical and chemical processing.

GAM’s smelting facilities in Japan and the USA were first declared
“Conflict-Free” in 2010 under Conflict Free Sourcing Initiative (CFSI)
audit program, and continue to maintain this status.

About Tantalum

Approximately 40% of tantalum is used in the manufacture of tantalum
capacitors, small battery-like components found in many high volume
electronic devices such as smartphones, tablets, laptops and other
consumer devices, as well as in the powertrain or safety management
control devices of automobiles. Tantalum capacitors are used where the
greatest amount of performance is required from the smallest possible
package and / or where long term reliability (often in harsh operating
environments) is essential. Other uses for tantalum include
semiconductor manufacture (15% of use) and as a super alloy in the
manufacture of aircraft and wind turbine engine blades (20%).

Contacts

Global Advanced MetalsAndrew O’Donovan, +1 781 996 7300CEO

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Release Summary

Global Advanced Metals gives Talison Lithium a formal plan outlining how mining tantalum at Greenbushes can commence in the next 12 months.